Tell us about 10 inventions or pieces of technology that enhance your life.
1. Internet banking
Not having to physically go into a bank to withdraw or money or go to the post office to pay bills has made such a massive difference – now there’s apps for mobile banking that allow me to pay bills, transfer money between accounts and even pay people via mobile, email or Facebook!
2. Smartphone
The Smartphone has completely revolutionised telecommunications. Everything changed with the introduction of SMS but now they’re more than just a phone, they have become a gaming device, a camera, they allow us to share information almost instantaneously through social media platforms, and allows us to video call people from all over the globe.
3. Tablets
The introduction of the ‘tablet’ has made a massive impact on the computer industry. No longer being confined to lugging around a laptop anymore, we’re able to use a tablet as a laptop with mobile versions of desktop apps allowing and enhancing productivity and creativity wherever we may be.
4. Bluetooth
The introduction of bluetooth to technological devices meant one thing – no more cables. I have multiple bluetooth devices from headphones, to keyboards / mice, to speakers. There’s something so satisfying about the simple removal of a cable – it just gives you that much more freedom to move devices around. Personally, one of my favourites is my bluetooth keyboard that I use with my iPad. It allows me to keep my blogging up to date when I’m in the city with a couple of hours to pass.
5. Wifi
As soon as the internet went wireless, the internet exploded. I remember a few years ago when I was living in a share house, and we just had a standard router, because a wifi one was far too expensive for a poor student, and my three housemates and I each had 10-20m ethernet cables from the router (in the lounge room) running to each of our bedrooms so we could all be on the internet. The hallway, unfortunately, ended up looking like a mess from all the cables. The day I bought a wireless router, was one of those days that changed my life.
6. Foam roller
Granted, not a technological device, but an invention that has enhanced my life. Working in the fitness industry, I continue to learn more about myofascia, and certain tendons and how they’re interconnected with various parts of the body, and in using the foam roller for myofascial release, it keeps muscles healthy, promoting fresh blood flow and reducing stiffness / soreness and muscle fatigue / DOMS.
7. Digital music / iPod
Remember the good old days of walking around with a Walkman or a Discman?? And then carrying a half-dozen cassettes or CD’s in your bag? I do. Then it was a Mini-Disc… and if you wanted to keep music on your computer, you had to ‘rip it’ so you could then play it all in WinAmp, whilst customising the ‘skin’ of the program. And then came the iPod. Overnight, I was able to suddenly carry my entire music library in my pocket, instead of taking multiple cd’s with me and constantly breaking covers and scratching discs.
8. The cloud
‘The Cloud’ has been one of those creations that has, again, revolutionised how we store / share data. For me, the cloud has allowed me to sync my web-based email and my calendar to my devices, so that I can remain up to date wherever I am, without the need to physically sit down in front of a computer. Since I started using Google Drive for my cloud computing, I’ve been able to centrally store all my important data, and again, be able to locate it from any of my devices wherever I may be. The other bonus to cloud computing is that because it’s not stored on my computer, I don’t run the risk of losing it all should I unfortunately have my computer suddenly die on me.
9. Web forms
Web forms are something that we’ve started using a lot more frequently at work – rather than having to deal with countless pages of individual registrations, and then manually entering all that data into a spreadsheet, a web form allows me to gather all the data centrally, and then download all that info in one spreadsheet, that will also allow me to do specific reporting and data sorting. It’s become a streamlined process that has saved me countless hours of mundane paper handling (not to mention, the amount of actual paper we’ve saved).
10. The Boss blender by Breville
I thought that I’d just throw this one in, because its something that I’ve recently purchased after seeing it at the Good Food and Wine Show. Coincidentally, we were actually in a position to have our blender replaced, but then we saw The Boss, and decided that we wanted to upgrade instead. And it’s been amazing. Even something as simple as making a green smoothie in the morning is now an enjoyable process, because it breaks down all the fibrous ‘greens’ into something smooth and drinkable. There’s no issues with pulp separation, or even the issue of greens not being broken down completely, and remaining somewhat ‘chunky’ – which just made the experience even more unpleasant.
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